21. Finn
Finn
C alan stepped up, sensing I was out of my depth with Chester there. “Right. Chester, would ye be okay with Reid cutting out a few hours early?”
“Of course.” Chester nodded. “If Reid needs to go and sort this out, that’s fine.”
Chester’s lips thinned and I could almost hear the questions he wasn’t asking. The ones about how we were going to sort things out and why we were getting ourselves involved.
I had to wonder, why wasn’t he asking them? Did he think it wasn’t his place? That us sleeping together wasn’t a good enough reason for him to demand some answers?
Or was it because he didn’t want to be involved? Did he suspect this would likely have a violent outcome? Did that make him not want to be with me anymore, given what he’d been through?
Clearly, Chester wasn’t the only one with questions. I wasn’t sure I wanted the answers to mine either. Not if it meant having to walk away from him before we’d truly begun .
“Then, Reid, why don’t you come on back with us to the cl—house.” Calan caught himself just in time. Another reminder that the sooner I let Chester in on our world, the better. “We can discuss how best to keep you safe.”
Reid lifted his chin defiantly. “I can keep myself safe.”
Evan’s response was dubious. “Against your…family?”
The look he shot in Evan’s direction was pure ice. “I’ve been doing it all my life, Evan. I asked for your help once before. I’m not asking for it again.”
I took a step forwards as Evan shoved himself off the wall. But he wasn’t going for Reid.
No, he was leaving.
None of us moved to stop him. Not with how he was vibrating. Evan needed to shift and run for a while. To burn off some of his guilt and shame before dealing with Reid.
Reid watched Evan until he disappeared from sight. He bit his lip, as though debating something.
“You were a child,” I said quietly. “Evan didn’t know any better.”
All guilt vanished as he turned that icy glare on me. “He should have.”
Logan watched on curiously, along with Chester. While Chester knew more than the others, I suspected he also knew there were large parts of the story that we were keeping from him. Logan, on the other hand, hadn’t been filled in on Evan’s connection to Reid.
I sighed. “If he’d known, he would’ve acted. I promise you, Reid, no one regrets what happened more than Evan.”
“That’s not true,” Reid murmured. “I think you’ll find I win the regret trophy, thanks very much.”
“Okay I have no idea what’s going on,” Logan said suddenly, moving up next to Reid and looping his arm through his. “Obviously there’s some tea just dying to be spilled. But I like you, Reid.”
Reid side-eyed Logan. “You barely know me.”
Logan waved that off. “Meh. You have a flair for the dramatic and can apparently hold a grudge almost as well as I can. That’s all I need to know.”
Reid snorted, some of the tension leaving him. “Thanks, I guess.”
“You’re welcome,” Logan chirped. “Now, I know you’re feeling weird fuzzy things about opening up to Evan and him keeping you safe, but he’s just one part of the…what did you call us?”
I groaned internally as Calan slapped a hand over his eyes. Yep. Called it.
“The furry cavalry.” Logan snapped his fingers in triumph. “Anyway, you have three other cavalry members here to help you. What do ye say?”
Reid bit his lip again, his eyes drifting to the woods Evan had vanished into. “I’ll just be dealing with you three?”
Fuck, I hated this. But as much as I wanted to have Evan’s back, I needed Reid safe more. Not just because of his proximity to Chester, but because he was a human living on our lands. “Just us three.”
Chester stepped forward suddenly, his lips thin. “Reid, you don’t have to go with anyone if you don’t feel comfortable. If you’re worried about being in danger, maybe we should call the police.”
We all winced, Reid included. The police were the last people we wanted involved in this, especially given it was likely to end in violence.
It always did with shifter conflicts. While treaties and diplomacy got us a certain way along the path to peace, they were never enough.
Our natures commanded us to dominate any threats. To make them submit to our strength.
I wasn’t concerned about it. The four of us alone could easily overpower the entire Clarkson Clan if needed.
But with Chester now in the equation…I was suddenly keen to find the fastest resolution possible.
“No,” Reid said, detaching himself from Logan to address Chester. “I don’t want the police involved, Chester.”
Chester blew out a breath and shook his head. “Okay. I won’t push. I’ve been there and I get it.”
Reid patted Chester’s arm sympathetically. “Thanks, boss.”
Logan and Calan looked at me as they processed Chester’s words. As they reached the conclusion that had them wearing matching death masks.
I’ve been there.
I nodded slightly, letting them know I was already aware. That I knew, and I fucking hated it.
If Chester ever let his ex’s full name slip, I’d be taking a journey down south. My wolf wouldn’t even need to push me to do it. I’d do so happily, just to see the fucker suffer. To deliver him the same pain he’d caused Chester.
Chester turned to face me. “You’ll look after him?”
I inclined my head. “With my life, m’eudail.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Logan tug Reid towards the door, Calan hot on his heels. Within seconds, I was alone with Chester once more.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” Chester said quietly, ducking his head. “I just want to keep Reid safe.”
“And that’s something I like about ye very much.” I touched his chin until he looked up at me. “It’s admirable that you’re protective of him, Chester. ”
“He’s so young.” Chester worried at his lip. “I don’t know everything he went through, but what I do know is already too much.”
“It is. But we aren’t going to let his dad get anywhere near him. Okay?”
Chester nodded.
“I also don’t expect you to trust me,” I said gently.
“I can apply exactly what you just said about Reid to you. I don’t know the full extent of what you went through, but it was more than you should’ve been subjected to.
” Chester didn’t speak, but his hands were trembling.
I took them in my own, stroking the backs of them soothingly.
“You don’t know me well enough yet to trust me fully, and that’s fine. ”
“You’re right,” Chester said. “I don’t know enough about you. Today has proven that.”
He slipped his hands from mine and my heart cracked in two.
“I’m not saying I’ll never trust you—” Chester deepened the crack by taking a step back. “—but I need to get to know you better before I can get there.”
“I understand.” I did. I truly did. But my wolf didn’t. He was howling inside me, begging to take my mate into my arms and make everything right.
Mate?
Chester wasn’t my mate.
Mate, my wolf snarled in response. Mine. Ours.
I shoved that away to deal with later. Yes, I wanted Chester to be my mate, but we didn’t have fated mates. Until we had a bond in place, he wasn’t anything to us.
Liar .
My wolf needed to shut the fuck up before I did something stupid, like rush Chester before he was ready .
“I want to get to know you better though,” Chester said shyly. “If that’s still something you want.”
As easily as that, the crack in my heart was patched over. “There’s nothing I want more, m’eudail. Tomorrow night?”
Chester pouted before smoothing it away. “Tomorrow is great.”
I chuckled, pulling him against me and kissing his temple. “I’d rather tonight too. But I don’t know how long this situation with Reid will take to sort out.”
“I get it,” Chester said, his arms sliding around my middle. “I’m not needy, I promise.”
“Well I hope that’s a lie,” I murmured, stroking along his spine. “I happen to adore needy men.”
This time, Chester didn’t attempt to hide his blush from me. “Well maybe it is a lie. You’ll have to wait and see.”
I kissed along his neck, desperately wishing I didn’t have responsibilities waiting for me. A clan to run. A shifter to punish. Humans to protect. “I can’t wait to find out.”
A fter hours of talk, we were no closer to finding a solution to Reid’s family dilemma. To our surprise, he wanted to avoid violence at all costs. Not out of fear of his family being hurt, but because he didn’t want it to escalate.
Like us, he had no idea what his father wanted from him.
According to Reid, they hadn’t parted on the best of terms, with him fleeing in the middle of the night.
Being born human in a shifter clan had meant he was at the very bottom of the pecking order.
His role had been that of a servant, doing the menial tasks that were supposedly beneath his more powerful kin.
Instead of protecting him as the weakest member of their clan, they’d chosen to exploit him.
It was his desire for a better life that had led to him escaping and seeking refuge in our lands.
I suspected there was more that Reid wasn’t telling us, but as with Chester, I knew it wasn’t right to push.
Reid was adamant that he didn’t want us to do anything yet. He’d even pleaded with me to not approach his father about threatening Chester.
“ It’ll just make things worse for me, ” he’d begged through tears . “ Please, Finn. He won’t hurt Chester. It’s me he wants. ”
Clyde and I would be having a discussion at some point, if for no other reason than I hated that Reid still cried over him. I reluctantly agreed to hold off for now, but I had insisted that one of us pay a visit to the clan. To try and find out exactly what they wanted from Reid and why.
I specifically didn’t say who though.
Evan didn’t show his face while Reid was in the clan house. He was close by the whole time though. Right outside the study window, if I had to guess. He’d paced and prowled along the length of the house while Reid spoke, his quiet anger palpable even with a wall between us.